Rapunzel

Quick Answer

Why This Story Works for Bedtime

It’s dramatic but ultimately hopeful. For bedtime, it works best when read gently and framed as a story of endurance and reunion rather than danger.

Story Synopsis

A couple steals a craving plant—rapunzel—from a sorceress’s garden, and the price is steep: when their baby is born, the sorceress takes the child and names her Rapunzel. As Rapunzel grows, she is kept away from the world, locked in a tall tower with no door—only a window high above the ground. The sorceress is the only visitor. Each time she comes, she calls, “Rapunzel, let down your hair,” and Rapunzel’s long braid becomes a rope. Rapunzel’s life is quiet, lonely, and bright with only one comfort: her singing, which floats out through the window. One day a prince hears the song and is captivated. He watches and learns the secret call. When he tries it, Rapunzel lets down her hair and is startled—but she isn’t cruel. Over time, their meetings become a lifeline: a small friendship and then love. They plan a way out. But secrets rarely stay hidden. The sorceress discovers the visits, and in anger she separates them. Rapunzel is sent away into hardship, and the prince is cast into despair. Both must survive alone for a time—through loss, wandering, and the slow work of hope. In the end, their devotion brings them back together. Rapunzel’s voice returns as comfort, and what was broken is healed. Rapunzel is a fairy tale about longing for freedom and the quiet strength it takes to keep hope alive until reunion.

Story Excerpt

There was once a man and a woman who wished, for a long, long time, for a child of their own. At last, the woman began to hope that her wish might truly be answered. Behind their little house was a small window. If you stood there and looked out, you could see a splendid garden—so green and so full of bright flowers and useful herbs that it seemed like a secret piece of summer. But the garden was surrounded by a high wall, and no one dared to climb over it, because it belonged to an enchantress. People said she had great power, and they were afraid to anger her. One day the woman stood by the window and looked down into the garden. There, in a neat bed of earth, grew the freshest rampion—rapunzel—so crisp and green that it made her mouth water. She wanted it, not just a little. She wanted it with such a strong longing that it filled her thoughts. Day after day, the longing grew. She knew she could not reach the garden, and that knowledge made her quiet and pale. She stopped taking pleasure in the things she used to enjoy. At last her husband said, worried, “What is wrong, dear wife?” She answered softly, “If I cannot have some of the rampion that grows in the garden behind our house, I feel as if I will waste away.” Her husband loved her dearly. He thought, Sooner than watch her fade, I will bring her what she needs—whatever it costs me.

In One Glance